Broken Promises
by Otaku Samurai
Summary: He left her. He was now gone, never to be seen again. Guilt has consumed her heart as she realized who she loved all along...all this time. She had broken his heart. He had broken his promise. Now Kirara has to make things right. Find Katsushiro.
1. Cold Flashback

**Hey, I meant to get this up earlier, but my **_**Bleach **_**fic sort of got in the way. Ha, started with KatsuKir ****and made IshiHime instead. I don't own ****_Samurai 7/ Seven Samurai_; Akira Kurosawa (the ultimate samurai mastermind) and the people from Gonzo do, not I, the Otaku Samurai...**

* * *

"_I swore I'd protect you, but for a long time _I _was the one being protected. I can't tell you how much your words -that we'd fall together- gave me the strength to move and grow as a samurai." Katsushiro turned from the graves of the deceased samurai to look at her. A sad smile was on his lips as he spoke. "The 'scent of battle', to please you I yearned for it. But to get it I had to deny my heart..."_

_Warm tears were pooling in Kirara's brown eyes and streaming down her face. Clear drops of water landed on the leather bands around her wrists. She stared at his green eyes, for they were deeply locked on her, not daring to move away. Kirara wanted to tell him, she wanted to tell him how she now felt._

_Her ears slightly pricked at the sound of twigs cracking and leaves rustling. "Are we interrupting?" a deep, very familiar voice inquired the pair._

_Katsushiro's gaze was lifted from hers and onto the two figures of Kambei and Shichiroji. He turned his back on them. He didn't notice the woman he had loved so much wiping her eyes of the water streaming down her face. "All this time Sensei, I've wondered what it was you saw in me. What made you choose _me _as the fifth samurai. And with every injury, every battle, I came closer to the answer. You told me before not to value death, to live on and finish what I've begun. However, for this battle of Kanna, the most noble samurai of us all are these ones here. The four who gave their lives."_

_Katsushiro looked up at the moon and rose his hand up. _

"_Are you ashamed of living?"_

_Staring intently at his palm, Katsushiro clenched his hand to a fist and turned back at them. Kirara had stopped crying and was looking down at the dirt and leaves, holding her water crystal. It was glowing a light aqua blue._

"_No." he looked at Shichiroji and then to Kambei. "It means I can fight another battle, and honor their names...just how you have, Sensei." _

_Without another word, Kambei walked up to Katsushiro and held his katana up to him. From where she was standing, Kirara could hear a gasp coming from Katsushiro. _

"_I pass this on to you, Okamoto Katsushiro."_

_Katsushiro seemed to be at a loss for words. "I-I..." gulping and recollecting himself, he grabbed the sword. "I'll use it well."_

_Strapping the experienced katana to his waist, he pulled his hood onto his head and headed into the forest. This would be the last time staying at Kanna Village...the last time speaking with her...with them._

_Kirara didn't say anything as Katsushiro walked past her. His face slightly turned and their eyes shortly locked. His smile was replaced with sorrow. His eyes were full of somber grief. Farther, farther he went into the forest surrounding the south side of Kanna. Finally, until his body couldn't be seen._

_Kambei turned around and started walking back towards the village. He would be leaving tomorrow afternoon. Shichiroji silently followed him back. "It seems Shichiroji," Kirara could hear Kambei avow lightly, "that my days as a samurai are over... and his have just begun. The apprentice has finally surpassed the master..." The samurai's voices drifted off into the night._

_She took up a sharp intake of air. _No! He can't leave like this! Not without me telling him how–

_Kirara didn't even finish her train of thought. She ran into the gigantic shadows of trees and earth._

_

* * *

_

The deep scent of pine needles and sap, combined along with the dry fragrance of the ground's coarse exterior invaded,

sieged_ Kirara's senses. But she kept running. Running._

_Running._

_She gasped in air as she came across the cloaked figure she was so desperately and forlornly trying to find. "Katsushiro!!"_

_He looked surprised as she came up towards him, panting and out of breath. "La-Lady Kirara...?" _

"_Katsushiro! You can't leave! N-not like this!" _

"_I'm sorry, Priestess...I must go. There," Katsushiro took a deep breath. "there is no place for me here anymore—"_

"_There is always a place for you here! You saved us all from the bandits! Why wouldn't you have a home here?"_

"Kambei _saved you from the bandits. I have never been able to save you...from Ukyo, even back when I first met you in Kogakyo..." His teeth were clenched as he was reminded of all the times he could have, but was just too weak to. "...I was the first one who let go of your hand."_

_Tears were starting to burn her eyes again. _

"_Th-that's not true, Katsushiro—"_

"_Yes it is. I just get in the way...I'm just a burden." Anger was starting to rise in his chest. _Why does it matter so much to her that I leave?! She doesn't care for me! _"I, I must leave Kanna. You should go back to the village, it's late. Goodbye...milady."_

_Katsushiro turned from her and started slowly walking away._

"_Please..." Kirara was pleading to him. " please stay here...with me..."_

_That hit a nerve and Katsushiro stopped abruptly with his fists clenched at his sides._

"_Why?! Why want me, when you have Kambei?!" he raged. "There's no need for me to be here! You don't have the same feelings for me as Sensei!" _

_He started to walk again. He wasn't going to stop. Katsushiro didn't understand this. He _couldn't_ understand this. Why, why now? Why did she have to do _this_ when he was so close from leaving the borders of Kanna? _Leaving her.

_Katsushiro was running away. Like he always did._

"_You should of told me way before this had all started..."_ _These were his last words. The last things he was going to say to Kirara before he would be long gone from this place. _Kanna Village. _A milestone for Okamoto Katsushiro. His samurai path and the path of his new life as one. A real one. "...that you never had an interest in me. I would have stopped from hurting you like I did. I'm sorry for being such a...damned burden! I shall take my leave now. Goodbye— ...Water Priestess."_

_Kirara was speechless as he disappeared from her blurred vision. She wasn't crying. She was too anguished to cry. The water just dammed in her eyes, daring to pour down but not. They were mocking her. _

_Katsushiro._

_Katsushiro..._

"Katsushiro!!

_She fell to her knees. Rocks and twigs penetrated the flesh of her knees. She didn't care nor feel the jabs of the many small jagged stones in her legs. All she could feel was her heart crumbling to pieces and decomposing before her. "Katsushiro..." she barely even whispered. Tortured emotions flooded her every being. _

_Hurt..._

_Despair..._

_Sorrow..._

_Torment..._

_Her eyes went wide. Realization hit her. _

_Rejection..._

_This is how she made him feel when he kissed her. Rejection. This was how it felt? This, this undeniable hurt? This is what she did to him back before the last battle?_

_And now he did it to her. _

This is what Katsushiro felt?...how, how heartless could I have been back then to him?!

_Guilt._

* * *

Kirara's weary brown eyes opened and lethargically drifted to the window. It was still dark out, and she figured it was around four in the morning. The past events of that day so long ago played through her mind; Kirara saw herself reliving the war and it's tragedies every time she woke up.

Every time she closed her eyes, she saw her own tragedies.

She sat up on the futon and turned her head to see Komachi sleeping soundly next to her on her own futon. She was sleeping as she normally did; Komachi was sprawled out on the futon and covers, arms and legs out in an awkward position. Kirara smiled slightly. Her little sister was the type of person who could always make you smile no matter how sad or angry you were.

She looked over at the window again. The moon shone bright white in the wood shutters of the hut. Slivers of light rested on her body as the rest of the room was the dense color of night. Kirara laid her head back down and stared up at the smiling moon.

It had been a little over a year-and-a-half since she last saw him. Since Katsushiro left Kanna Village. She could remember it so well, the first time she had met him. A thief had stolen Rikichi's pack of rice, and Katsushiro quickly brought him to the ground. He then insisted to help pick-up the fallen rice.

Okamoto Katsushiro.

He was the only one that was ever on her mind. It was tearing her apart. She wanted to see him so bad. Kirara wanted to run into his arms and never let go of him. She wanted to tell him she loved him. She wanted him to stoke her hair and reassure her in her despair. Whenever she cried, Kirara wanted Katsushiro to hold her and stay with her. And she wanted to show him that she really _did_ love him back.

Love.

The emotion that either makes or breaks you. And it was breaking her. It would always be breaking her. Mentally. Physically. Emotionally.

She found that over the months, she hasn't been eating as much as she should. Kirara wouldn't be sleeping as much as she should. She would always wake to the same dream. The same forest, the same scene, the same pain. The same tears.

Kirara couldn't live without him near her. Being alone for the past months and feeling this pain of her loss drove her to believe that she really needed him. She really loved him. It wasn't mixed feelings anymore. No doubts. No...distractions.

Kambei and Shichiroji were gone. They departed the afternoon after Katsushiro did.

She didn't know how she wore that smile that day. Kirara just, _had _to. She needed to be strong for the villagers, even if she wasn't the priestess anymore. They relied on her; and they all knew what happened with Kambei, Katsushiro and her. They didn't speak of it, but Kirara knew that behind closed doors, some did. Some people were never what they seemed.

She was starting to get disgusted of the village. Of the forest. Even though they had prospered greatly since the war, she still saw pain everywhere she looked. Not from the others, but from her. But then, there was also her sister:

Komachi.

Komachi had lost a loved one too. Kirara would still sometimes see Komachi holding the scroll Kikuchiyo had given her. There would still be some tears in her eyes, but Kirara could tell that the girl was happy. She was proud of her loss. The one she had loved saved them all from the flying capital. The death of them all.

Kirara's eyes started to water.

She had made up her mind. She was going to find him. Even if Kirara had lost all chances of him loving her back in return.

She had to make things right. There was no turning back.

And the first stop to look? The place where Kirara and Katsushiro first met:

Kogakyo.

**Wow. Normally my first chapters aren't so long. Of course this is only my second story. **_**Wow**_**. Please review! Would be greatly appreciated! Constructive criticism would be nice, no flames. Flames hurt the heart...and your fingers if you hold the match too long (haha that tells ya somethin'). But, if this sucks, **_**do**_** tell me. I know the "Katsushiro-Kirara" thing is sort of cliche, so..._yeah. _Also, tell me if there are any typos.**

**It's a work in progress. So work with me. I can't really guarantee fast updates either (sweat drop). Thanks!**


	2. Second Thoughts

**Here's a Happy Thanksgiving present for all of you. It's mostly Kirara (with a hint of Komachi) this time around, so bear with me. She still has to leave Kanna Village and do some walking around town before Katsu comes in. Also, for ****curiosriz****, for being a freshman with Honors classes it's hard to update! I try my best, but it's kind of sucky if you have a 9 English Honors teacher that basically hates your writing...**

* * *

Kirara quickly got up off the futon and quietly began to dress. She didn't want to wake Komachi, for Kirara knew that if the young girl _was_ to wake, she'd undoubtably want to tag along.

_No. _She didn't want that.

It's not that Kirara didn't want her to go (Komachi could lighten anybody's mood), but she didn't want her little sister to get dragged into her own personal affairs. She didn't want to put her _own_ weight on anybody else's shoulders except her own. Kirara wanted her pain and internal suffering to be a burden to no one but her own self.

"_I'm just a...damned burden!"_

Kirara tried to suppress a gasp as she was reminded of the past. Tears were threatening to fall from her deep brown eyes; thoughts of Katsushiro inundated her once so driven mind and insecurity followed.

_What would I say to him? Would I even be able to say anything at all?_

_Would I _ever_ find him?_

Kogakyo was a big city and no wars or disputes have risen since the Battle for Kanna. Overall, the land has been extremely peaceful—no news of anything violent has reached Kanna ears; the Tortoise Express hasn't brought or reported anything new.

_Currently, there has been no need for samurai...only ronin nowadays..._

_No! I can't think of these thoughts! I will find him!!_

Kirara's right hand instantly went to grasp her left wrist.

Nothing there but her skin. She was so...so _accustomed_ to the feeling of the cold leather band arounder her slender wrist, the feeling of the crystal of living water dangle from her arm. Even though Komachi wore the amulet now, every time she'd think of the samurai who once fought and died for her village, more appropriately and most of the time Katsushiro, she would immediately go to her wrist.

The water crystal had not wanted Katsushiro...it was an extension of her soul...

..._it_ had wanted Kambei.

_She_ had wanted Kambei.

Not Katsushiro.

She gripped her wrist tighter. This was tearing her apart piece by piece, atom by atom. She did love him. She did love _both_ of them—yet that year ago, she was confused with which type of love. Both of their parents, Kirara and Komachi's, had died during the midway of the Great War.

Their father was a great man for just a farmer. He had a deep voice, strong build, and the undeniable will to protect...yet his only downfall was that he was slightly stubborn. He was one who would defend anyone and any living thing that moved, two legs or four. He had honor. Enough honor to be a samurai.

Now that she thought about it, in her mind her father _was_ a resemblance of Kambei. They did look very similar...

He did look like him, Kirara's father—he had the same hair-color and stern eyes. Facial expressions, height, seriousness, lighthearted sense of humor. _Exactly the same._

Kirara's heart ached. It pained her to think of this, but she had to get it straight with her mind, soul and body. She had to come to terms with herself...and for the sake of everyone she loved and cared for, she needed no second thoughts nor doubts about her love or intentions.

Besides, she couldn't feel any more worse than how she felt now. Kirara had mistaken the love of a father and daughter for the love between a man and woman. No word nor phrase could explain or depict how terrible, how _degrading _that felt on her heart.

The mistake of one love for another.

Kirara loved Kambei, but as the father she once had. That's why she had slapped Katsushiro back so long ago—he was _disrespecting_ her father. And then he kissed her. But she didn't respond or even do anything.

_Then Katsushiro walked away. Hurt. Without a word._

And when Kambei rejected her own feelings towards him on their way back to the village, was when maybe a little bit of her heart understood. But, she was so young and stupid back then. Ignorant to the fact that she had missed her chance. The year after all of the death had taken a new toll on the former water priestess.

Kirara clenched her teeth, took a deep breath and then closed her eyes. Releasing her held breath, Kirara relaxed a little. Turning to her right, she continued packing. She cut off all thought—it would just pull her down even more than where she was already at. She would find him and make things right.

Kirara Mikumaru had come terms with herself. Now she needed to come to terms with the one who she was going to Kogakyo and possibly every corner of the Earth to find: Katsushiro Okamoto.

Picking up the pack of necessities Kirara would need for travel, she put into it some bamboo canteens full to the rim with water, some bags of rice, a bowl to cook the rice in, a blanket, and some money. She could always restock supplies when she got into a new town; she would be going the same way that she had traveled with Shichiroji and Kyuzo when they traversed.

Through the mountains and on the cliffs.

Walking to one of the windows of the hut, Kirara looked out to the dark sky. She woke up at around four, so now it was probably around five thirty. Dawn was approaching, and if she wanted to depart before any of the villagers awoke, she'd need to leave now.

Double-checking the essential needs in the backpack, she took out a small piece of paper and began hastily writing a note for goodbye.

_To Grandmother and all of the villagers:_

_I'm sorry, but I must go. There are important matters I must attend to in Kogakyo, so there is no need to worry. I don't know exactly when I'll be back, hopefully, after the wintertime and in the Spring when the harvests grow. I'm sorry for going on such short notice...Komachi... I'm truly sorry I couldn't take you with me._

—_Kirara_

Wrapping her weathered blue scarf around her neck, Kirara took her last deep breath. Strapping the pack to her back and adjusting it to her liking, she opened the wood door. Turning back one more time, she spotted Komachi still sprawled out on her sleeping space and smiled the first real smile in a long, long time. _Komachi. I admire you so much. Even though you're so small, you are the one who I look up to, and the one with the most sense at times. You were never unsure or confused with who you were in love with..._

With that, she started walking into the coming dawn.

* * *

"S-sister..." Komachi mumbled lazily on the futon.

The young girl had heard something while she was asleep... noises...like rustling paper and a door opening then closing...

Rubbing her eyes, Kirara sat up and looked around. The futon next to her was empty of the figure of a young woman. The blankets were wrinkled and unkept. And the figure's clothes were gone from above her pillow. _What? Where's Sister at? _

Groggily standing up, the girl tried to adjust her eyes to the mild darkness. Yawning, she started walking around, looking for Kirara. "Sister? Sister! Where are you?"

This was very abnormal.

_Sister never left in the middle of the night...only that one time when Katsu left the village..._

Starting to slightly get panicked, Komachi started getting strange ideas on why or how Kirara was gone—Ukyo coming back from the dead and taking her back to his capital with his girly laugh, or those purple "Rice Dwarfs" who roamed the fields at night (the ones Okara was always teasing her about) stealing her. In her stage of fright she accidentally ran into the small table in the middle of the hut that she and Kirara both shared.

"Owie...stupid table... Huh? What's this?"

Now with eyes fully adjusted, Komachi saw a white piece of paper on the wood surface. Quickly scanning it (even though Kirara told her time and time again not to read in the dark) she gasped.

_She left? To Kogakyo? But why?—no...not just to Kogakyo..._

Komachi's face brightened and she made a great big toothy smile. _She's gonna go get Katsushiro back!! _

After glancing at the door for a split second, Komachi ran towards her clothes and started to dress. She didn't care if she was tripping over books and scrolls and whatnot—she needed to hurry if she wanted to catch her sister before she left past Winged Rock. Getting a bag and throwing some of her things into it, she walked to the note again and started scratching things out.

* * *

Making sure the water crystal was secure on her wrist, the feisty young girl ran out of the door to catch her sister.

* * *

Kirara looked up at the giant rock and then at the area around it. Trees had grown back, bushes and small animals now resided once again on the land that was at a time, a battlefield. It still had debris of fallen Nobuseri, but now the living green Earth was back, and not just brown dirt and wasteland.

Now that she had noticed, the domains outside of Kanna Village were now...beautiful.

She hadn't seen the beauty before.

Just the disgust and pain.

But now that Kirara was out of the village and was at an understanding with herself, she had different views to things. Yet she had to remember.

No turning back.

She had decided to start this search for the once she loved—and she was determined to see it through. She needed to tell Katsushiro she was sorry for what she did to him. Everything. She loved him. She would always love him.

With a new hope, Kirara started walking again. She smiled a small smile.

_I won't stop looking for him until—_

"Sister! Sister!! Wait for me!!"

Kirara turned around. "_K-Komachi?_" she squeaked in surprise as the young girl ran into her and grasped her in a hug. "W-what are you doing here?"

Komachi frowned at her sister. "I should be asking _you_ the same thing! Why didn't you take me with you?!"

Kirara looked sadly down at her. "Because I...I don't want to weigh you down with my own troubles..."

"I'd be in even more trouble if you weren't here with me! I'm coming with you whether you like it or not!"

"B-but..."

"No 'buts'! Sister...I know what you're doing. You're going to go find Katsu. I know you feel really _really_ bad about a long time ago, and you're going to go make things right. But, you forgot one thing." Komachi dangled the aqua amulet up by her face. "Don't you think it would be way easier to find him with this?"

Kirara gawked at her sister. _She's abusing the water crystal!_

"What about you're role as priestess? The villagers are going to need you..."

"No they won't! It's practically almost the Winter, and the fields won't be in harvest till the Spring just like you said! You picked the perfect time to find him!"

Kirara knew she was fighting a losing battle. So, she sighed in defeat.

"Ok...Komachi. You can go with me..."

There was _no_ turning back.

**And here you have it, chapter 2. I finished this at around 1:10 am. **_**I hope you all are thankful**_**...I'm losing sleep for you guys...**

**Please review! Would be greatly appreciated! Thank you all again for reviewing and adding my semi-poor piece of literature to your favorites/alerts. Note to reviewers: tell me if the chapter sucked, was OoC, had typos, or just flat-out sucked. **


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